Redress - Another Script Update (0)

Posted on 12 June, 2008 in Redress

I have been working hard on finalizing Redress over the past few days.  The story is growing and growing all the time, and right now that is a good thing.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, the backbone of the story for Redress could stand alone byitself with all of the horror elements torn out of it.  That being said, when I embarked upon writing this script I wanted to make a hard hitting horror film, so I am working on increasing the level of supernatural terror in the story.  From what I’ve seen when most people have physical encounters with ghosts, there is a very emmotional connection at a psychic level which usually leaves people in a state of shock for a matter of moments. As I look back on horror films I have watched in the past that deal with “ghosts” in general, I’ve never seen this type of characterization used very much.  Usually people scream and run or they scream and die.  A few cower in terror before they get killed off.

I’m trying to do something a little different.  I’m trying to do something a little more real.  When the characters in my story get exposed to a few supernatural elements, they will have long lasting effects from the encounter, if they survive that is.  This film isn’t about racking up a body count like most horror films try to do.   There are a number of corpses and brutal deaths, I can’t let my gore hungry fans down, but the sole purpose of the movie is not to just create horror by killing people left and right with a monster that suddenly pops up.  There is a growing element of psychological horror and dread that is beginning to evolve in the script.  Every time I touch the script this happens more and more and now I find myself hopping all over the place patching up little inconsistencies and shoring up the characters a little more.

When it’s all said and done, I think this film is going to turn out to be very good. At the very least, I have had a great time developing it even if it’s taken longer than expected.  My goal is to have this baby all wrapped up by the end of June so we can seriously start filming this fall.

For those of you dying for the next project from this guy, I think you will be happy to know it will all be worth the wait.

Tags: Pre-production, Screenplay

Redress - Script Update (0)

Posted on 29 March, 2008 in Redress

Wow - 2008 is flying by fast. On that note, the month of April is here! I wanted to start filming bits and pieces of Redress this month, however the script is not done yet. My writing partner Kreg and I have been diligently meeting and writing and the story is much more focused than it was a month ago. There is far more character development - in fact, I’m very sure the story could stand by itself even if we removed all of the horror elements. We’re getting close - not just close enough to film yet. The nice thing about being a small studio is that nobody breathes down our back - the bad thing is that budgets are small, so sometimes day jobs and errands get in the way of a good writing session

Once the cameras finally start rolling I plan to send out a press release and hopefully have a trailer ready in time for Comic-Con.

On other fronts, I have been busy designing our new company shirts and promo items for the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Los Angeles at the end of April. I think our table is in a great place this year, it’s on an end over by some of the bigger booths, so traffic should be kind to us - I hope…

Tags: Pre-production, Screenplay, Script, Writing

Locations and Bugs and Trailers - OH MY! (0)

Posted on 1 March, 2008 in Redress

While Kreg and I are busy wrapping up the script for Redress, I have been scouting locations in my free time and beginning to gather a number of the props that will be needed for the shoot. This film has a number of locations in it which will be a definite challenge when it comes to filming, but I know we need them. I have found a wicked looking park which you find a picture of in the teaser poster that is floating around and we have our psychologist office all lined up also.

In other news, we will be using a number of live animals in this film as well - not anything like lions, tiger and bears (Oh My!), but more like real maggots, worms and crows (Fuck Yeah). I don’t want to say too much about how we plan to use these little critters, as they refer to some ultra awesome twists in the plot, but I’ll give you a hint. As we all know, dead things are eaten by a variety of bugs, worms and other animals when they die. Maggots love to devour dead flesh and how many times have you seen a crow picking at some flattened animal on the side of the road? It’s not anything too major, other than the fact most people have told be they don’t want to be anywhere near me when I’m filming the scene with 10,000 maggots. Did I just say 10,000 maggots? Oh, no the corpse - errrr…. the cat is out of the bag now. Look out, I smell something terrible crawling this way.

As the Fangoria show rapidly approaches, I find myself getting ramped up for the event. I have been designing new stickers, we have a cool-new vending machine we will be using to give away DVDs and I have started creating the trailer for Redress. All I have is some music, text and b-roll stuff for now, but by the end of March I’ll have the full-blown thing.

Oh, I’ve got to go. My test video is done rendering

Tags: Location Scouting, Pre-production, Props

REDRESS is becoming a Feature Film! (0)

Posted on 10 February, 2008 in News Blurbs, Redress

It is finally official and now I want to start hyping the news: Redress is becoming a feature length film!

As I had more time to sit and think about the story I passed it around to a few people for review. One of my friends has some ideas to add and the project pretty much exploded from there. We are still hashing out the script at this moment, but since I had already done a lot of preproduction on the film in its short form, the project is on the launch pad waiting for its tanks to get filled. Most of the cast and crew are placed; we just have a few more roles to fill once the story if flushed out some more.

The goal for now is to start filming around Mid April. I will be releasing a press release later in the month. We will have a teaser ready for the Los Angeles Fangoria Week of Horrors in late April. We hill have the film wrapped by the time Comic-Con rolls around in July.

Stay Tuned… our website is going to get busy again

Tags: Development, Pre-production, Screenplay, Script, Writing

Redress - Casting Begins (0)

Posted on 6 October, 2007 in Redress

I posted a casting call on the site for Redress and copied it to MySpace, Craigslist and the usual places.

The thing I hate about posting anything online is that there is huge amount of spam that always follows. I get DPs and Composers emailing, sending DVDs and calling all hours of the day. I realize they are just trying to drum up business, but I can’t stand it sometimes. When I need crew members, I will post ads for them.

The worst thing about casting a posting call is when your email address gets listed on a page - because then the spambots grab it. Now, in addition to resumes and headshots you have to contend with ads for viagra and mysterious letters from rich-ass Ethiopian prince. In order to avoid most of this hassle, I posted “casting at steelwebstudios.com” assuming that most people know to type that into their email program with @ in place of the “at”. I see it on websites all the time. Do you know how many people send me messages saying that they can’t send email to “casting at steelwebstudios.com”? Sometimes I just want to give up…

Tags: Casting, Pre-production

Redress - 1st Draft Completed (0)

Posted on 4 October, 2007 in Redress

I have finally found time to sit down and finish the first draft of the script for Redress. The problem with being an indie filmmaker is that your job and other responsibilities always take priority over your filmmaker duties. I’ve been talking with producers and musicians on numerous projects. We’re also getting ready for a huge vacation in one week so there has been a ton of planning for that. Now that I have some time to myself I was able to sit down again and write.

The funny thing about this story was that I knew where it would start and I knew where it would end, but I did not know exactly how it would end. After hammering out the last few pages I sat back and thought, “Wow, how the hell am I going to pull this off?” While some people just let their imaginations run all over the place while they are writing, I always try to remain grounded and think about how I would have to pull off an effect or camera angle with every scene that I write. Sometimes this limits me because I’ll have a great idea and then realize there is no way in hell, unless I my numbers come up in Super Lotto, that I could never pull off the shot. At the same time, I need to constantly push myself as a filmmaker. There will be a lot of filming at night with this one and we’ll be doing some crazy lighting effects both in photography and in post to create some of the ghost effects. Hopefully, in the end, the film will pay off. I think it will.

I will be posting the casting call for this one very soon.

Tags: Pre-production, Screenplay

Redress - Character Designs (0)

Posted on 11 September, 2007 in Redress

I spent some time sketching out my design for the lead female character. This is going to be a Tale from the Carnal after all, so she needs to be sexy and powerful. I don’t want to post the design yet - and not just because it looks like a third grader drew it. I hate spoiling the good stuff so you’ll just have to wait and see what this new girl looks like. I think she’s going to give Andromeda a run for her money… Let’s just say for now that she’s partially clothed and constantly dripping with blood.

Tags: Concept Art, Pre-production

Redress - Script Update (0)

Posted on 25 August, 2007 in Redress

I am pleased to announce that the 1st draft of the script for Redress is about 2/3 complete. Most of the people I’ve clued in about the story say this will be the scariest thing I’ve done yet.

Tags: Pre-production, Screenplay

Redress - Pre-production Begins! (0)

Posted on 18 August, 2007 in Redress

I’ve been wanting to make two types of films for a while now: (1) a ghost story, and (2) a very short film. Judging from my past reviews I know that I can scare people and I know I can gross them out and creep them out. Now I want to prove I can scare you…

I am pleased to announce I have begun work on my new short film “Redress“:

One night during the long ride home, a convicted felon is visited by the ghost of a murdered woman and becomes a pawn in a mission of spiritual vengeance.

Redress will appear on Tales from the Carnal Morgue - Volume Two and hopefully at some film festivals near you.

For those of you who are screatching your heads about what “Redress” means, I suggest you grab a dictionary or follow this link…

More details soon… I promise…

Tags: Concept Art, Pre-production